Man counts 1,000 cars at one of the busiest intersections in China's richest city to see whether EV or gas is king

Sitting at the intersections of one of China’s busiest roads might not sound like a lot of fun, but this man had a good reason for it.

He wanted to know whether gas or EVs were the king of that particular road, so he decided to count 1,000 vehicles, and see which won.

This all took place in Shanghai, one of China’s biggest and most bustling cities.

And you might be surprised by the result.

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What vehicles rule the streets of the Far East?

China is, by numbers, one of the world’s largest car markets.

It is also one of the world’s biggest manufacturers, thanks to the success of brands such as BYD.

What is interesting about the rise of China’s auto industry is the question it has raised.

Which vehicle actually rules China’s streets?

Is it Tesla, the traditional German giants – or the new wave of Chinese EVs?

Well, one YouTuber decided to find out for themselves.

YouTube channel Immersive China decided to head to China’s richest city.

That city, of course, is Shanghai.

The channel set up at one of Shanghai’s busiest intersections, Jing’an Temple and counted exactly 1,000 cars as they passed by.

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Intersections in China’s richest city offers incredible insight

So what did the video reveal?

Well, the results were actually more surprising than you might think.

Of the 1,000 cars, 499 of them were domestic Chinese vehicles.

That’s right – 49 percent of the vehicles in China’s richest city were produced domestically.

Yet the West still held a more than respectable share of the market, too.

Out of the 1,000 vehicles, 191 were from Germany, 171 were from the USA, and 96 were Japanese.

Rounding out the list were UK-made cars (14), Sweden (11), Italy (8) and France (4).

The diversity on display was staggering, with 83 different car brands seen at the intersection.

Arguably the biggest takeaway from the video was the level of domestic dominance.

Traditionally speaking, foreign cars have dominated the Chinese market.

Yet now, almost 50 percent of the cars in China’s richest city were actually Chinese.

The second big change on display was the wave of ‘Green Plate’ vehicles.

A significant portion of the cars seen at the intersection were New Energy vehicles, including EVs and hybrids, which were given the ‘Green Plate’ to signify this.

It is these New Energy vehicles that also point to another major shift.

A whopping 59.2 percent of the 1,000 vehicles were discovered to be EVs.

This compares to a much lower 40.8 percent of cars that were gas-powered.

It could also be argued that 83 different brands among the 1,000 cars make China the most competitive auto market on the planet.